Simple Menu Planning

FAST FOOD FRIDAY...

"I'm too busy to cook."  "I worked all day."  "I'm Tired."   "I don't really want to go to the store."   Who hasn't heard or even said these words before?  Should you call for pizza?  Should you pick something up from the nearest drive through?  Nope, neither.  All you need is a little Food Fore-thought.  Fast Food Friday, a planned weekly post, isn't about running out to a local restaurant for take out or calling for delivery.  Fast Food Friday is about having something on hand for those days when cooking just seems impossible or even unappealing. 

With a little planning and preparation, fast food can come straight from our cabinets, pantries, and freezers.  What we are really talking about here is food preservation.  Food preservation can change our future days - take the guess work out of meal prep, allows for an evening of rest not stress, change your grocery bill's bottom line, and of course, nix the expense of drive-thru eatings.  Now those points do sound appealing.  So for many many Friday's to come, check back to see how I plan to never be too busy to cook, not too tired to eat well, not considering if it's too hot out, and best of all, skipping trips to the store.  For today, let's talk about...

Keepin' it Simple Menu Planning

One of the easiest and effective ways I know how to avoid needing to call or stop for take out is simply by having a plan.  In this case, a menu plan.  I always have a menu plan for the upcoming week.   It obviously helps me create my shopping list, but more importantly, it gives me control over what we eat, how much we spend, and how much time I'll spend in the kitchen. 

My no fail approach to keeping it real and real simple is to use the following template.

Past plans kept for reference.

Sunday - Pasta night

Monday - Beef or pork in the crock pot

Tuesday - Chicken

Wednesday - Soup and Sandwich

Thursday - Pizza and salad

Friday -  Tacos

Saturday - Chicken or fish

 A typical week may look like this...

Sunday - Lasagna with garlic bread

Monday - Canadian pork roast in the crock shredded for BBQ Sandwiches

Tuesday - Teriyaki chicken and rice with stir fry veggies

Wednesday - Cream of Broccoli soup with ham and Swiss on a bagel

Thursday - Pepperoni Pizza and a green salad

Friday - Taco night from the freezer - super quick

Saturday - Grilled Salmon with green beans and mashed potatoes

Using the template approach works very well for us for a few reasons.  First, I'm not found racking my brain trying to come up with something so It's a time saver.  I just plug in our favorite meals and call it a day.  Second, The rotation of various meats results in enough variety so that it doesn't feel like we just ate this or that.  Plus, my plan is done for the week.  There's never a dilemma as to what's for dinner.

The template plan is flexible.  I usually put my fastest cook meals on my busiest days such as Thursday and Friday when we have after school activities.  I like an oven meal on Sunday that's low effort - heat and eat.  Crock pot meals on Mondays are a beautiful thing with everyone back to work and school.  Sometimes I switch up Tuesday and Wednesday if I am low on veggies for stir fry.  The CSA veggies get delivered on Wednesday.  Saturdays are nice to kick it outside, put on the music, crack open some wine, and enjoy something off the grill.

So that's it for this week.  Be intentional.  Be prepared.  Have a plan.  Enjoy, and be thinking of how you can make life easier in the future.

This post is shared with Too Many Jars in my Kitchen and Raising Homemakers.